We have an incredible slate of speakers lined up for this year’s Funding Forward in Atlanta, GA. To help you get ready for the conversations at our annual conference of grantmakers committed to LGBTQ issues, we thought we would compile some pre-readings. Enjoy! (See the full Funding Forward schedule here.)

Out in the South: Assets and Opportunities

More than one in three LGBTQ Americans live in the U.S. South and LGBTQ Southern communities are more likely to live in hostile environments, face discrimination, live in poverty, and experience health disparities than their peers in other regions of the country. Thursday’s morning plenary will highlight Southern leaders and organizations that are working hard to build community and solve problems with minimal resources. Funding communities are learning how to better support them. (Get more details on the session here).

From the media to funding conversations, transgender issues are a hot topic. Simultaneously, in 2014 with murder rates at an all time high, trans communities are literally fighting for their lives. Thursday’s afternoon workshop will bring together a community-led funder, a Southern community organization, grantees and activists. We hope to help give funders first hand access to learning what transgender communities themselves have identified as most important to them. (Get more details on the session here).

Thursday’s afternoon plenary will speak to the issue or religious exemptions/freedom and how the law can be used to undermine and undo the progress the LGBT community has made with the freedom to marry among other freedoms. (Get more details on the session here)

The Lives and Needs of LGBTQ Sex Workers and the Case for Expanded Funding for the Health and Rights

Many activists and funders also understand the interlinked needs; the social, economic and legal marginalization of trans people, LGBTQ people of color, and young LGBTQ people is a part of why people choose to be sex workers even where sex work is criminalized, and the violence, incarceration, and poor health faced by LGBTQ sex workers is of concern for the health and rights of the LGBTQ communities in which they live. Thursday will end with a session that explores how funding for sex worker rights is one important way to support the lived experience of LGBTQ people. (Get more details on the session here)

The Friday morning plenary will have us exploring the great success of the marriage equality movement and how philanthropy has played a pivotal role. The session will also discuss the challenges and lessons learned over the years and how these lessons may be applicable to other LGBT social justice movements. (Get more details on the session here)

One of Friday’s sessions will feature the major advances and regressive actions of international LGBTQI rights. Speakers will share the dynamic landscape of global LGBTQI activism and share lessons learned and promising strategies for funding. (Get more details on the session here)

The Day After Legal Equality: Civil Rights, Culture Change and Social Justice

Friday’s closing plenary will have us reflect on lessons from other movements that have achieved legal equality but struggled to make progress on economic and social inequities. The speakers will share promising strategies for advancing culture change and for building movements for social change in the 21st century. Together, we will explore how we can seize the momentum of our progress on legal equality to achieve the longer-term vision of equity and social justice. (Get more details on the session here)